Police confirmed the murder-suicide Saturday after finding the bodies of Caitlin Melville, 27, and her daughter, who was a kindergarten student at Westmere Elementary School, at their home on Schoolhouse Road in Guilderland. Police did not release the daughter's name.

"The Guilderland Central School District community is stunned and saddened over this news and we are all grieving this loss of life," a message from the superintendent read.

The message said a team of counselors, school psychologists, and social workers would provide counseling in the coming days to any student, faculty or staff member who needed it.

Caitlin Melville's sister Michelle Melville told Spectrum News that her sister had mental-health issues and was not thinking clearly, her judgment clouded at the time. She also said her sister's long-time boyfriend, who was a father figure to the child, died a week ago.

"If she had just said anything, anything at all," Melville told Spectrum News. "I still can't comprehend what was going through her mind that would make her choose this path."

Melville remembered her sister as a "good person" who was giving, kind and funny. She recalled her niece, who she called her "little boo" as "incredibly smart and incredibly funny."

The kindergartner's teacher hosts a blog where she shared regular pictures of the little girl with her classmates drawing outside, painting in class, singing in assembly and playing with building blocks to learn about 3D shapes.

Neither Michelle Melville nor the kindergarten teacher could be reached for comment.